Inverted well packer



F. A. REED INVERTED WELL PACKER Filed sept. 19, 1949 INVENTOR.

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a' ta ATTDRNEYS Aug. 18, 1953 A! 22 wm Patented Aug. 18, 1953 UNITEDSTATES A51-ENT OFFICE 1 Claim. l

This invention relates to an improved packer for holding and sustainingair, gas or water pressures in an injection or input well for secondaryrecovery drives, and for iluid disposal wells, or it may be used as aplugging device against pressui-'es in the lower part of a Well or as adevice for transmitting various plugging agents into permeable oil, gasor water strata under sustained pressure.

The purpose of this invention is to provide an inverted well packerwherein one section may be removed at a time so that it is readilyreleasable and may readily be removed from the well.

Heretofore, it has been found necessary to cement the packer andinjection string in the well in order to hold internal pressures. Thereare conditions in a well where, due to various obstacles and cavingsfrom other strata, where an up-side-down packer will not release andthis plugs up the body slots cf the packer and prevents the releasethereof. With this thought in mind this invention contemplates anup-side-down packer in which it is possible to remove one section at atime when it is impossible to remove the packer by conventional methods.This improved. packer also enables operators to hold the internalpressures by utilizing pressures in the lower part of a well as a forceapplied. to further setting of the packer.

The object of this invention is therefore to pro- Y Vide means forconstructing a well packer whereby it is adapted for use in an invertedpositionV and whereby the packer is readily releasable so that it may beremoved'.

Another object of the invention is to provide anup-side-down packerhaving an L-shaped slot therein and in which the body pin may berehooked into the L-shape slot to facilitate removal of the parts.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved up-side-downslip packer that is readily releasable and which is of a comparativelysimple and. economical construction.

With these and other objects and advantages in view the inventionembodies an up-side-down packer having a connecting pipe threaded on theupper end tov conform to the injecting string and with the lower end'threaded with left hand threads. into the extensible member and with theextensible member actuated by a slip assembly having an L-shaped slottherein with a corrugated upper end and wherein manipulation of the slipassembly is controlled by the body pin in the L-shape slot.

Other features and advantages of the inven- ('Cl. 16S- 12) tion willappear from the following description taken in connection with thedrawings wherein:

Figure l is a vertical section through the unit with parts illustratedin the free positions.

Figure 2 is a cross section through the unit, taken on line 2 2 ofFigure 1.

Figure 3 is a detail showing a section of the body of the unitillustrating the position. of the body pin in the L-shaped body slot.

Figure e is a detail showing a vertical section through the lower end ofvthe unit, and showingl a modification wherein the inner surface of thebushing in the head is smooth.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference characters denotecorresponding parts the inverted or up side down well packer of thisinvention includes a pipe or injecting string III, a rubber sleeve IIproviding an extensible unit', a head I2 under which the lower end ofthe pipe I6 is threaded, wall gripping slips I3, a body sleeve I4surrounded by a slip sleeve having an L-shaped slot I5 therein, and abody pin I6.

The upper end of the pipe I6 is provided with right hand threads I 'Iand the lower end is` threaded into the head I2 with left hand threadsIt. By this means the pipe may readily be unscrewed from the head I2'without disconnecting the upper parts thereof..

The slip assembly includes a collar I9 having an upwardly extendedsleeve 20 with corrugations or serrations 5 in the outer surface thereofand' an outer body sleeve 2l which isv threaded into the lower end ofthe collar i9 with threads 22 and on the lower end of which the slips I3are provided. The outer body -sleeve 2|` extends downwardly from thecollar I9 and two sets ofv latch spring members which provide frictionalwall engaging elements are positioned thereon. The. L-shaped slot I5 isprovided in the outer or slip sleeve 2! and the lower end of the slot.is provided with a horizontal section 23. The body pin. IB. ispositioned in the horizontal section 23 as the unit is` inserted intoand removed from a well.

The slips I3 are formed on the. lower end of the outer sleeve Z'I' andthe slips are formed with beveled inner surfaces 24 and serrated outersurfaces 25. The lower ends of these slips spring outwardly as shown inFigure. 1 in the free position.

The slips I3 are resiliently held inwardly by frictional well wallengaging -means comprising springs 26 which are mounted on the outersleeve 2| at the points 2'! and the beveled surfaces 24 ride upon thefrusto-conical surface 28 of a collar 29 on the outer surface of thebody sleeve I4. The tip of a collar 29 is held against a shoulder 30 onthe body sleeve I4 by the rubber sleeve II with the parts in the freeposition.

The rubber sleeve II is positioned between the collar 29 and the head I2with a ferrule 3| carried in the lower end of the rubber sleeve andsecured by threads 32 on the head. The head I2 is threaded on the lowerend of the body sleeve I4 with threads 33, and the head is connected tothe end of the pipe or string I through a bushing 34 having a threadedlower end 35 that is screwed into the head I2. The inner surface of thelower end of the bushing 34 is provided with threads 35 and the lefthand thread I8 into which the lower end of the string I9 is screwed areprovided in the upper end. It will be understood that the threads 3E inthe inner surface of the lower end of the bushing may be omitted asshown in Figure 4, if desired. The bushing is secured in the head by aset screw 31. The upper end of the body sleeve I4 is provided with asleeve 38 having a flange 39 around the intermediate part thereof andthe lower end is connected to the sleeve I4 with threads 49. The outersurface of the upper end of the sleeve 38 is provided with corrugationsor serrations 4I, as shown.

The body pin i6 is provided with a head 42 and a spring 43 is positionedon the pin between the head and inner surface of the sleeve I4, as shownin Figure 2. The pin I9 is slidably mounted in an opening 44 in the4body sleeve I4 and the outer end extends into the L-shaped slot I ofthe sleeve '2l The upper part of the outer sleeve 2| may also beprovided with frictional well wall engaging means comprising springs 45that are attached to the sleeve at the point 46. The upper end of thestring I0 may be provided with a coupling 41.

In the modication illustrated in Figure 4 a bushing 48, similar to thebushing 34, is threaded into the lower end of the head I2 through thethreads on the outer surface of the lower ends 49 thereof and the upperend is provided with left hand threads to correspond with the left handthreads IB of the pipe I0. In this design the inner surface 58 of thelower end of the bushing is smooth instead of being provided withthreads such as the threads 36.

The lower end of the head I2 is provided with a beveled inner surface 5|as shown.

- With the parts arranged in this manner the packer is strung up readyto run into the hole and before it is run into the hole it should beexamined to see that the pin I6 is all of the way over in the horizontalpart 23 of the L- shaped slot I5. The pin should remain in this positionwhile the packer is being lowered into the well.

When packer is in position in the well and ready for setting, the pipeor tube I0 is turned to the left to move the pin I6 into the verticalsection of the L-shaped slot I5. The spring assembly including thesprings 26 and 45 engage the wall or" the well, holding the assemblystationary whle the tubing is pulled upwardly with the collar surface 28engaging the serrated slips I3', the collar being initially movableupwardly with its upper end engaging the shoulder 30 on the body sleeveand as these slips move outwardly and grip the inner surface of the wellupward movement of the collar is checked so that with continued upwardmovement of the head I2 by the string or tube l0 the rubber tube I I iscompressed and bulges outwardly against the wall of the well.

The uid used for pressuring or for other purposes is then introducedinto the tubing and conducted to the bottom of the hole and as theinternal pressure increases the tighter the rubber sleeve holds in thewell.

When it is desired to remove the packer the string or tube I9 is lowereda little below the point to which it was lowered originally and the tubeis 'then turned to the right whereby the pin I6 is moved backwardlyacross the horizontal part of the L-shaped slot. Should it be impossibleto remove the packer by pulling the tubing, the tubing is then turned tothe right unscrewing the tube in the left hand thread I8 whereby thetube IE! may be removed and as the end of the tube passes the pin I6 thepin will drop into the well. A combination socket may then be run intothe well to engage the serrations on the collar I9 whereby the slipassembly may first be removed and then the lower part of the packerassembly including the body sleeve and head may be removed.

It will be understood that other modifications may be made in the designand arrangement of the parts without departing from the vspirit of theinvention.

What is claimed is:

In an inverted well packer, the combination which comprises a verticallydisposed connecting tube threaded at its upper end, a head threaded onthe lower end of said connecting tube, a body sleeve positioned aroundand spaced from said connecting tube, a slip sleeve having an L-shapedslot therein positioned around said body sleeve, a body pin carried lbysaid body sleeve and extended into said I 'shaped slot of the slipsleeve, an extensible sleeve extended around said body sleeve andpositioned with the lower end resting upon said head, a collar having afrustro-conical shaped upper end extended around the body sleeve andpositioned on the upper end of the extensible sleeve, slips carried bysaid slip sleeve and positioned to be expanded by said collar,vertically spaced sets of outwardly bowed springs secured at one of theends thereof to the surface of the slip sleeve, and a collar carried bythe upper end of the slip sleeve and slida'bly mounted on thelcorinecting tube, said collar having serrations in the outer surface ofthe upper end.

FRANK A. REED.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSQuintrell J ulyl 31,

